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Tex-Mex Turkey Chili

Turkey chili is another staple in our house. We live in Florida and eat this year round. I remember the very first time I made chili for That Guy. The Philadelphia Phillies were having an awesome year and it was a late game where they were playing the LA Dodgers. When he got home from work, he was surprised to see me in the living room watching the game and eating a bowl of turkey chili. His response, “Did your mom come over?” Thinking that she’d made the chili. I know…how dare him, right? That night the Phillies won and we both swore that it was because of my chili. LOL But it doesn’t matter what time of year it is or rather, what sport is in season…we always have the ingredients in house to make a pot of chili on the fly or we have a bowl in the freezer, waiting to be thawed.

When freezing my turkey chili or any other soup, I like to line my bowls with wax paper. It serves two purposes in that when I’m ready to pull one out of the deep freezer, I don’t have to wait to thaw it unless I have the time. If there’s something that we have planned after work and I know we’ll be getting home late, I can pull it right from the deep freezer and put it in a pot on low, still frozen, while I prep for the next day or give Suga Booga a bath. Another reason is that it prevents the soup (especially turkey chili) from staining your bowl.

We like to have Honey Wheat Ritz crackers along with Mexican blend cheese but every now and then we’ll have Jiffy cornbread muffins too. I remember eating chili as a kid and my mom always added angel hair pasta to it. The first time i had chili without the pasta, I thought it was the weirdest thing. LOL I don’t add pasta to mine but if you wanted to stretch it or make it even heartier, feel free!

Pour your olive oil in your skillet and set your burner to medium high. Once your oil is hot, put in your ground turkey and cover with half of your homemade taco seasoning.
As your meat is cooking, go ahead and start opening your cans of vegetables. I like to rinse my kidney beans to get the slimy goo off of them. It’s just really unappealing and personally I think it detracts from the tastiness of this recipe.
When your meat has browned, DO NOT DRAIN! You want those juices and spices to add flavor to the chili. Add that to your pot, along with your veggies then cover with the remaining taco seasoning.
Stir and cover then turn your burner down to low and let your chili simmer until is it hot and your house smells amazing.